How did Lubitz single-handedly down that plane?
The flight's voice recorder has revealed the co-pilot deliberately crashed the Germanwings plane. Disturbingly, it was post 9/11 cockpit safety procedures that helped him do it.
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A move to allow an "authorised person", rather than a flight attendant, to take the second seat in an airliner cockpit to comply with new aviation rules has raised additional security concerns among Australian pilots.
Qantas policies allow off-duty airline employees from all departments, regulatory officials and air traffic controllers to sit in the so-called "jump seat" during the flight, albeit only at the discretion of the pilot in command. They have all had extensive background checks, but not necessarily mental health checks, before sitting in the spare seat behind the pilots which does not have controls.
If one of those authorised people is in the jump seat, a flight attendant will not need to enter the cockpit when one pilot exits to use the toilet during the flight.
The new rules will allow a person in the jump seat behind the pilots' positions to serve as the second person in the cockpit. Photo: Jim Rice
A Virgin Australia spokeswoman said the airline would ensure there were always two operational crew members on the flight deck at all times after having instructed flight attendants on how to operate the cockpit door. However, it is understood other "authorised persons" may be trained to perform that role over time.
As a result of the "rule of two" introduced after the apparently deliberate Germanwings crash in the French Alps last week, Australia will require all aircraft with capacity for more than 50 passengers to have two people on the flight deck at all times.
Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister Warren Truss on Monday said the second person would need to be a member of the operating crew or an "authorised person" like those allowed in the Qantas jump seat.
But he added the entire policy would be reviewed after 12 months to determine its effectiveness.
Before putting the new policy in place, Mr Truss had cautioned Australia needed to be careful not to introduce a different risk into the flight deck given flight attendants did not receive the same mental health checks as pilots.
In the Germanwings crash, flight captain Patrick Sondheimer reportedly banged on the door after returning from a toilet break but was refused entry by the first officer Andreas Lubitz, who was the only one on the flight deck at the time.
In Australia, jump seat passengers had not previously been briefed on how to open the cockpit door, but they will be now be told how to do so as a result of the new policy.
"There are so many holes in this ill-thought through rule," one Australian pilot said of the new policy.
"What if the captain leaves for the bathroom, an authorised person is in the jump seat and an attacker comes to the door, pounds on the door saying, 'This is the Captain. Let me in.' What do you think the authorised person will do?"
However, other sources said there were some security layers to prevent this type of unauthorised entry such as a peephole in the door and a video camera outside the door.
The pilot also raised concerns that a flight attendant or a passenger in the jump seat could reach the "crash axe" which is in the cockpit to assist in escape in the event of a crash but could also be used as a weapon.
"It exposes the cockpit to more security risks than the isolated case of a homicidal pilot," he said. "I think flight crew are a better judge of fellow pilots' mental state. Now I have to judge the cabin crew member's mental state too before leaving them in the cockpit with access to things like the crash axe."
A second Australian pilot said the new policy appeared to be a "knee-jerk reaction" to a one-off plane crash on the other side of the world. "It is not going to prevent anything," he said. "It is saying to pilots you can't be trusted."
In an email to pilots on Monday, Qantas chief operating officer Andrew David and group executive associated airlines and services John Gissing said it was important to acknowledge the Germanwings incident was as "isolated as it is tragic".
"The Qantas Group's safety system has been developed over many years of experience and is continually reviewed to make sure it's as strong as practically possible," they said.
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